Wildlife Vets Namibia

22/08/2024

How do we check if a lion is sleeping after we darted him? We approach the lion from behind (always stay away from the sharp side 😉) and we make some noise. When there is no response, we throw a stick. Then we pull the tail, and lastly, we tickle the ear. Every time when there is a response, we wait a bit longer.

Especially in cats it is important to put artificial tears into the eyes, as they do not close their eyes during the immobilization. Once this is done, we put a face mask on to cover the eyes - this protects the eyes from sun and dirt, and reduces external visual stimuli that might lighten the plane of the immobilization.

This beautiful male lion received a new tracking collar.

19/08/2024

🐘 Reintroducing elephants 🇳🇦 🇦🇴

Recently we assisted Mount Etjo Safari Lodge with an epic translocation of seven elephants to the Cuatir Conservation Project in south-east Angola. As many farms currently in Namibia, Mount Etjo is hit hard by the ongoing drought. To prevent further stress on the habitat and animals, the decision was made to relocate elephants to the beautiful Cuatir reserve; elephant heaven!

During the first translocation, the elephants were captured in the morning, and loaded in special elephant transport crates. The road in Angola was tough, but the elephants, a bull, a cow with calf and four sub-adults did well! On the road they got water, and branches and grass once we entered Angola. Fortunately they approved the Angolan cuisine!

The release of the elephants was a magical moment, it was amazing to see them coming out, looking around, and slowly moving into the forest. Cuatir has a diverse landscape, with floodplains, a river, grasslands and forest, the elephants have a wonderful new home. Feedback from the reserve is good, all elephants are together and are doing well. Soon, the next group of elephants will be relocated.

We would like to thank the Mount Etjo team – Annette, Alex, Rudie and Carola – that we could be part of this amazing elephant project. You all did an exceptional job putting this translocation together! A big thanks also to Stefan van Wyk, the driving force behind the Cuatir area, he is a great example to many! We also thank Dr Mike Chase who helped steering this complex translocation. Furthermore, we thank Frank Schatz from Cowboy's Trading & Rental Solutions and Dr HO Reuter, drivers Apollo and Ferdinand, and all others who have been involved in this epic translocation project!

15/08/2024

This nyala bull was lame on the hind left leg. Upon examination, we saw that the left fetlock joint was swollen and very stiff. The nyala must have had an old injury that did not heal nicely, and caused a secondary septic arthritis. A septic arthritis happens when an infection spreads to a joint, and causes an inflammation. This will cause pain, swelling and a limited range of motion.

The nyala was treated with anti-inflammatory and long-acting antibiotics. It is quite likely that the joint will remain stiff.

13/08/2024

Brown hyenas have a bit of a habit to pretend they are still fully asleep after the immobilization, but they are not... From snoozing to running off like a rocket in seconds!😴🚀😅

This brown hyena was immobilized so researchers could put a telemetry collar on. Once everything was done, we reversed the brown hyena with antidote. Then we waited... and waited... Since the hyena took his time, we decided to give it some more antidote. As we came close, the brown hyena was actually just snoozing, and took off once we came too close!

ps: no GoPro's were harmed in the video!

13/08/2024

🐾💉 Protect paws and save lives: Donate today to vaccinate against rabies in Namibia!

Follow Veterinary Association of Namibia for more updates

12/08/2024

🐘 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑬𝒍𝒆𝒑𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝑫𝒂𝒚 🐘

The elephant is the biggest land mammal on Earth! As you can imagine, it is not an easy task to move them. In some circumstances it is however necessary, as too many elephants in an area can lead to severe habitat degradation. Translocating elephants requires a whole lot of planning and logistics, and it is usually not so easy to find a suitable area for them. For the capture and moving of the elephants one needs a team of experienced people; a vet, helicopter pilot, crane operator, truck drivers, people monitoring the elephant etc. We have our own elephant transport crates, and an elephant wake-up crate, and are well equipped to do elephant translocations within Africa.

Here you can see a video on how we moved elephants from Namibia to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ▶️ https://youtu.be/VDzWfmrrRhw?si=Lfcx0p5d0JVcscD9

10/08/2024

🦁 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒂𝒚 🦁

World Lion Day aims to raise awareness about the plight of lions and gather support for the conservation of these majestic big cats.

Lions are facing difficulties in many parts of Africa due to habitat loss and fragmentation, illegal wildlife trade, bushmeat poaching and human-lion conflict. It is important to carefully monitor a lion population. That way we can learn more about the species, and check if the population is doing well. A great project in Namibia which involves lion research, is the Kwando Carnivore Project. We were lucky to assist the project a few years ago. Here a lion male was darted with immobilizing drugs. As you can see, the Pneu-Dart Inc. dart was sitting nicely in the bum, the male fell asleep, but his brothers kept a watchful eye over him... and us! Luckily, as we got closer with the car, the brothers moved off, and we could collar the male lion.

🦁

08/08/2024

A blue wildebeest from a different point of view! Wildebeest are what we call 'non-selective bulk grazers'. They have a broad, flat muzzle to eat large quantities of short grass.

Did you know that wildebeest often follow the zebras? The zebras usually eat the upper parts of the grasses, leaving the lower parts of the grass for the wildebeest. This kind of successional grazing is called 'facilitation'.

This blue wildebeest was dart immobilized so we could move him to a different area.

06/08/2024

A few months ago this giraffe cow gave birth to a dead calf. Since then, she had a persistent abnormal va**nal discharge. We were called out to treat her for a likely uterus infection. She was dart immobilized, and upon examination we saw a severely inflamed va**na. We flushed her ge***al tract with a mix of water and F10 disinfectant and injected her with a long-acting broad-spectrum antibiotic, vitamins, as well as an injection to ‘reset’ her oestrus cycle.

We hope she will be more fortunate with her next calf! The average gestation period for giraffe is about 15 months.

01/08/2024

🐘😴 Snoring like... an elephant?!

Elephants are primarily nasal breathers, which means they rather breath through their noses, than through their mouth. When we immobilize an elephant, it is therefore important we secure the trunk, if the elephant goes down and falls on the trunk, it is an absolute emergency getting the trunk free! The trunk is an impressive piece of equipment, which aids in breathing, smelling, touching, making sounds, snorkling and more!

Once the elephant is down, we straighten the trunk, and put a little stick between the trunk tips to make sure the airway stays open.

This matriarch got a satellite collar, so from now on the position of the herd can be monitored. Once the collar was fitted, she was reversed with an antidote, and up within a few minutes.

For more info on the inside of the elephant's trunk, read our February 2020 newsletter here:https://wildlifevetsnamibia.com/onewebmedia/2020-02%20Newsletter%20Wildlife%20Vets%20Namibia%20-%20February.pdf

30/07/2024

This kudu bull that was moved to another farm, received a vaccination against rabies. Rabies can have devastating effects amongst our Namibian kudu and eland populations. There are several outbreaks currently in Namibia, and we strongly advise kudu/eland owners to vaccinate. Our personal experiences with rabies dart vaccination from the helicopter is very positive.

Some important considerations regarding vaccinating kudus and eland must be made:
1️⃣ It takes time for the immune system to make protective levels of antibodies (10-14 days), especially following a first time to disease or vaccine.
2️⃣ Vaccines do not kill an infection! This means that kudus or eland that have been infected with rabies, are not cured by an emergency vaccination.
3️⃣ When we vaccinate kudus and eland from the helicopter, it is impossible to dart every individual animal on the farm. Even under optimal conditions it is unlikely one reaches more than 80% of the population. This means that it is possible that some individuals die of rabies, even after a vaccination campaign. However, to create heard immunity, one needs to at least dart 60 to 70% of the population. Those members of the population that did not get vaccinated, get the “shelter” benefit from the vaccinated population, where they are less likely to come into contact with rabid animals, as they are surrounded by vaccinated animals.
4️⃣ Dart vaccination from a helicopter is costly but worth the effort. Occasionally farmers want us to only vaccinate bulls. This is an exercise in futility! It takes nearly as much flying time (and thus cost) to comb a farm for bulls as it does to vaccinate the whole herd, BUT this kudu population certainly does not benefit from the effect of herd immunity! To only protect the end product (kudu trophy) without ensuring that the “production line” (the cow herd) remains functional does not make sense. Ask neighbouring farms to join in, to reduce ferry costs.
5️⃣ The rabies vaccine that we use is a dead vaccine which thus cannot induce rabies!

For more information about rabies, have a look at our three articles on: https://wildlifevetsnamibia.com/documentation/articles
🦠 #1: Implications to the game industry
🦠 #2: Herd immunity and rabies
🦠 #3: How vaccination leads to immunity

30/07/2024

Thanks Namibian Chamber of Environment for writing this important article about Snotsiekte.

Please read and share, we like to hear your thoughts and experiences 💭

Biocycle's black soldier fly farm in Windhoek turns organic waste into agricultural products, reduces greenhouse gases and creates jobs.

25/07/2024

The July newsletter edition is online, check out the link below.

🍼🐄 In the newsletter, you can read about teats and udders; ever wondered why some animals have four teats, but only get one young? We received this interesting question from somebody and we have tried to shed some light on it (not sure if we managed though!😉).

☣🦠 Then we had two farmers in different areas contact us with cases that are highly suspicious for anthrax (miltsiekte), so we thought it was a good idea to once again summarize this disease. In the article you can read what anthrax is, how it is transmitted, how you can recognize and, and what you should do in case of a suspicious anthrax case.

ℹ️ Friday 02 August is the Wildlife Ranching Namibia Info Day at Arebbusch Travel Lodge in Windhoek. It will be an interesting day, WRN has lined up highly-experienced speakers, and this day will be a great chance for you to network. Contact WRN directly for more info or to sign up.

🔗👉 We hope you enjoy the newsletter:https://wildlifevetsnamibia.com/onewebmedia/2024-07%20Newsletter%20Wildlife%20Vets%20Namibia.pdf

23/07/2024

This young, yet very impressive sable bull was dart immobilized. We are committed to using the CO2-operated X-Caliber dart projector for the accuracy and the ability to precisely and rapidly adjust the gas pressure according to the distance of the animal. For helicopter darting, we use a red dot scope and short barrel, for ground work we use a range-finder telescope and a long barrel so we can take shots up to 90m (only under ideal conditions😉)!

To further streamline things, we limited the darts we use to 1 and 2 ml darts. We adjust and make our immobilizing drug cocktails to fit into those darts. This simplifies ballistics and makes taking accurate long distance shots a breeze!

We like to thank Pneu-Dart Inc. for making these reliable products that allow us to do our work 🎯🙏! Also, a big thanks to Klawerberg Stud Game Breeders Namibia for their trust in our services, and to Simon Wildlife Services for the 🚁flying. We are proud to work with such great teams!

22/07/2024

We joined Dr HO Reuter and Rhino 911 on a dehorning mission! At the same time, Li-Ann taught us all about rhino plasma, she does an incredible amount of work in SA so it was great seeing it and learning about it in real life! Together we collected blood in special blood bags, and from there plasma is collected. This plasma is then frozen and stored, and can be used for the treatment of rhino orphans and/or critically ill rhinos.

A big big thanks to Rhino 911 for all your continuous efforts to save this iconic species 🦏🙏 Thanks also to Li-Ann for your time and explanations, to Dr HO that we could join in, to Alex for the 🚁 flying and getting the rhinos in the best possible spots as ever, and all others involved!

18/07/2024

Last week we were busy... We dart immobilized and loaded 83 animals in just 1.5 days! Sables, impalas, kudus, lechwes and wildebeest were all moved to different farms. We darted the animals together with Simon Wildlife Services, and the animals were picked up in the field and driven to the specialized wildlife trucks. Once in the truck, the animals were checked, injected with vitamins, the horns were measured and when needed the hooves were trimmed. Very important, all animals also received a long-acting tranquilizer, which keeps them calm during the road trip, and during the initial adaptation phase on the new farm.

The reason for this big move is however a sad one. Namibia is one of the driest countries south of the Sahara, and this farm has been struggling with a terrible drought for many years now. Due to the drought there is also a dramatic reduction in feed production in Namibia. On top of that, we cannot import food from South-Africa, as the border is closed, resulting in extreme scarcity of, and high prices for animal food. Two severe droughts in a row (2019 and 2024) have a devastating effect on Namibian wildlife. We sincerely hope that the next rainy season will be one with lots of widespread rains!

17/07/2024

On Friday 02 August, Wildlife Ranching Namibia hosts another Info Day in Windhoek! Why should you join? Interesting lectures, a short course on caping and of course a great opportunity to network!

✳️ Dr. Hassel: Rabies in Kudus Revisited
✳️ Wiaan van der Linde: The Buffalo Economy: Trends and Insights
✳️ Trophy Caping Course @ Nyati: Hands-on Techniques and Best Practices
✳️ Innovations in Farming: Rhino Conservation, Bush Encroachment Management, and more exciting topics!

📍Location: Arebbusch Travel Lodge
🗓️ Date: 02 August 2024
RSVP By: 22 July 2024

📧 Contact Information:
Please RSVP and direct any questions to Caren Winckler at [email protected]

16/07/2024

🐍 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝑫𝒂𝒚 🐍

Today is World Snake Day, a day to raise awareness about snakes and their importance in our ecosystem.

Often snakes are perceived in a negative light, but snakes are actually cool and important animals! Snakes are predators, they feed on frogs, mice, rats etc., and are therefore an important natural way of pest control. At the same time, they are also prey for birds and mongooses, and thus play an important part in the food chain. And then there are the medical benefits we get from snakes... From snake venom, antivenom is being made. Snake venom has a lot of different substances, and researchers are working hard to discover the venom's potential as therapeutic applications. Components of snake venoms have been used to treat hypertension, cardiovascular disease, renal disease and strokes. There is still a lot to learn about snake venom!

Its good to be careful for snakes, but there is no need to hate them, or even kill them. About 85-90% of the snake species in the world are non-venomous. Most snakes are not aggressive, and would only bite to defend themselves, or when they are threatened or provoked. On the photo you can see a harmless spotted bush snake.

To learn more about Snakes, become a member of the Snakes of Namibia Facebook group! On this group you will find some useful documents, such as tips on what to do when you encounter a snake, and what to do in case of a snake bite. Another useful website with lots of information is https://www.africansnakebiteinstitute.com/

13/07/2024

Faunus Biodiversity has written an interesting article on Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF), better known as Snotsiekte in Namibia and South-Africa. Newly imposed, poorly researched legislation enforcing a 10 m double fence on farms where wildebeest are kept have devastating economic consequences not just to the game farmer, but secondarily to the Namibian economy.

❝ In a country with abundant wilderness, finding a balance between livestock and Wildlife in Namibia will always be a contentious issue. On both sides, there has to be a give and take, to balance the economic needs of the nation, with the needs of the environment that sustains it's people. But opting for exclusionary tactics, where Blue Wildebeest are banned from inhabiting such a huge area of the country and confined to small enclosures, is not a balance at all.❞

Read the entire article here: 🔗 https://www.faunusbiodiveristy.com/post/how-poorly-imposed-mcf-regulations-are-impacting-namibia-s-blue-wildebeest

11/07/2024

Immobilization is obviously stressful for wildlife; they are being darted, handled, picked up, moved etc. We therefore like to put a tranquilizer in the dart. When we get hands on, we like to put a face mask on, to cover the eyes. This is one way of reducing stress a bit, but also important for a few other reasons:

👀 It reduces external stimuli, which can lighten the plane of anaesthesia
👀 It protects the eyes from dirt and dust
👀 It protects the eyes from the sun and reduces the changes of drying out

After we injected the reversal drugs, the mask is removed. This impressive sable bull, together with a bunch of other sable antelopes, were moved by Simon Wildlife Services.

09/07/2024

Leopards are feisty animals, so when we dart immobilize them, we want to make sure they are sleepy enough to be handled! In the video Dr Ulf is checking how responsive this leopard female still is, by tickling her ears. You can she that she is still responding! If we would handle her at this stage, adrenaline will kick in. Adrenaline plays a crucial role in the “fight-or-flight” response, which prepares the body for intense physical activity or stress. Adrenaline is also sort of an antidote against the immobilization drugs, so if we would handle her, chances are good that she will wake up.

So, in this case, we just stand back and wait a bit longer for the immobilizing drugs to do their work. Once she does not respond anymore to the ear tickling, we touch the inner corner of the eye, to see if she has a blink reflex (palpebral reflex). If there is no reflex, we know she is sleeping well enough.

04/07/2024

This was an interesting darting exercise! This male ostrich started to become quite a naughty guy, and needed to be relocated to a place where he could no longer chase people around! Generally, we do not dart immobilize ostriches as they are risky with the immobilization, but in this case we did not really have another option.

The safest spot to dart an ostrich is in the thigh muscle, but then he had to lift the wing up! Luckily as he moved around, he lifted his wing... dart in! Ostriches, in relation to their weight, take a high amount of drugs, and despite this, still take some time to go down. Once he was down, we could handle him and load him into a game trailer, in where he received the antidote.

The ostrich was then moved to a farm with other ostriches and no people around 😉

03/07/2024

Hondsdolheid in kudu
Rabies in kudu
🚁🎯🦌

For more information about rabies, have a look at our three articles on https://wildlifevetsnamibia.com/documentation/articles

Thanks Agriforum Namibian Agriculture Magazine for highlighting this important topic!

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝘃𝗹𝗮𝗮𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗸𝗼𝗲𝗱𝗼𝗲𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗱 𝗸𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗲𝗸𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱

‘n Skerp toename in koedoehondsdolheid word tans opnuut landwyd ondervind in die meer as veertig jaar lange bestaan van die endemie. Afgesien van koedoes, word elande en renosters bedreig, het veeartse bevestig met wie Agriforum in gesprek was. Selfs die suide wat tradisioneel vry van koedoehondsdolheid was, word in onlangse jare geteister.

“Boere sal wakker moet skrik en die kwesbare wildspesies op hul plase begin inent, veral in tye van uitbrekings soos nou. Die enigste praktiese metode tans is inentings met pylgewere uit helikopters,” sê die wildveearts dr Ulf Tubbesing en dr Rainer Hassel van Unam se veeartsenyfakulteit wat aan die stuur van die koedoehondsdolheidprojek staan. Beide van hulle wys daarop dat koedoegetalle ná elke uitbreking erg afneem. Dr Tubbesing voeg by: “Dit sal baie help as alle verdagte diere vir koedoehondsdolheid getoets word. Dit sal belangrike inligting verskaf oor die omvang van die epidemie en meer lig werp op moontlike maniere van verspreiding, byvoorbeeld oorwegend van jakkals na koedoe of van koedoe na koedoe.”

Dr Tubbesing meen swakker kondisie weens droogte is nie die oorsaak van die herhaaldelike voorkoms van koedoehondsdolheid is nie. “Dit kom ook voor in goeie reënjare en in al die seisoene.” Die rol wat jakkalse as draer van dié siekte speel, veral by waterpunte waar dit versprei word, word volgens hom ook oorskat. “Koedoes vrek teen dieselfde tempo op plase waar daar nie jakkalse is nie, veral in die suide waar jakkalsproef- en geëlektrifiseerde heinings hulle grotendeels uithou.”

Volgens dr Tubbesing is die beste tyd vir entings in Augustus en September voordat die bome en bosse begin bot. Dit sorg vir beter sig van mens en dier om ‘n groter persentasie van die wild te ent ter wille van verhoogde kudde-immuniteit.

In ‘n geval van ‘n uitbreking moet entings so gou as moontlik gedoen word om immuniteit te verbeter, waarsku dr Tubbesing. “Boere wat dit doen, ervaar vrektes neem binne twee tot drie weke drasties af – die tydperk wat dit neem om immuniteit te begin opbou.”

𝗕𝗲𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗶𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗶
Intusssen het die Namibiese Vereniging vir Beroepsjagters (Napha) in ‘n bewaringspleidooi ‘n dringende beroep gedoen dat koedoe-jag soveel as moontlik beperk moet word. Dit geld veral vir jong bulle en bulle wat nog reproduseer. “’n Koedoebul vat tot ‘n dekade om tot ‘n top-trofee te ontwikkel. Juis daarom moet alle betrokke partye, onder wie boere en trofeejagters, hulle verbind tot ‘n langtermyn-doelwit om ons koedoes te beskerm. Dit kan voorts bykomende regulasies van die omgewingsministerie voorkom,” lui ‘n Napha-nuusflits.

𝗦ó 𝗱𝗮𝗮𝗹 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲
Volgens die Afrika Wildlewe Stigting is die koedoebevolking van sowat 118 000 op die vasteland se huidige bewaringstatus naby aan dié van bedreigde spesies – soveel te meer in Namibië wat gebuk gaan onder sporadiese uitbrekings van koedoehondsdolheid en talle vrektes.

In ‘n studie van dr Hassel saam met drie ander veeartse (Barnard, Schneider en Hübschle) het hulle bevind tussen 30 000 en 50 000 oftewel 20 tot 40% van die Namibiese koedoebevolking is in die eerste vlaag van koedoehondsdolheid van 1977 tot 1986 dood. Nog ‘n bevinding van hulle was dat daar geen aanduiding is dat hierdie herhaaldelike episodes skielik sal ophou nie.

Op ‘n vraag hoe koedoehondsdolheid die nasionale bevolking van dié spesie die afgelope jare raak, sê dr Tubbesing dit is moeilik om getalle of persentasies te bepaal. “Op die een plaas kyk ‘n boer na sy koedoes en ent gereeld, op ‘n ander plaas gebeur dit nie.”

FOTO: Dr Ulf Tubbesing ent ‘n koedoebul met pylgeweer uit ‘n helikopter teen koedoehondsdolheid. (Foto: www.wildlifevetsnamibia.com)

02/07/2024

NEW ARTICLE - See link below 👇
In winter, colds, flus and other respiratory diseases are on the rise. Not just with us humans, but certainly also in animals. Pneumonia is quite common, and can cause big problems in your herd!

Pneumonia (Afr. longontsteking) refers to inflammation of the lungs. It occurs all year round, but usually peaks in winter, and especially late winter. Cold weather, winds, dust and big temperature differences between day and night makes animals more vulnerable for pneumonia. In our latest article we go deeper into this complex topic. We start off with the basics, how does the respiratory system protect the body? Then we explain what pneumonia exactly is, how you can recognize it, and how you can protect your animals against it.

👉🔗 https://tinyurl.com/pneumonia-article

27/06/2024

🦓 This plains zebra was immobilized, and on this photo you can see that we inject an antidote in the vein that runs along the inside part of the leg. This vein is called the ‘medial saphenous vein’. The term ‘medial’ means towards the middle or center of the body, and ‘saphenous’ refers to veins and arteries that are close to the surface of the leg. In well immobilized and restrained zebras, but also other animals such as carnivores, this is usually a nice vein to use for either blood collection, or injecting drugs. When the head is held up, the jugular vein in zebras is also often nicely accessible.

Zebras used to be known to get muscle tremors during the immobilization, but thanks to new drug mixes, that is usually a thing of the past. This zebra was completely relaxed, and it was thus safe to sit so close to the legs 😉

Okambara Elephant Lodge